Black and White
by DAve and Bob
Summary: Hirai didn't care about the Festas, he barely cared about the school. The only thing he was interested in was finding a certain person and ending them, after all, that is why he kept his rank so low to avoid needless attention. Yet for some reason when a new transfer student shows up things get far more difficult for him.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

 **Rank 72 and 33**

He grumbled as he sat in his bed, he ran his fingers through his brown hair before looking at the clock in the corner of his room. He was wondering if he should have even bother going to class that day. Before shrugging and shifting his position ever so slightly. "Man it's a pain, but Miki will get on my ass if I don't"

He scratched his head before looking at his bandaged up arm, it was a constant reminder that he still hadn't accomplished his goals as he got dressed and slowly put on his school uniform, it had been about two months since he had arrived at Rikka other wise know as Asterisk. He had been going to the Seidoukan Academy's for just as long.

As he finally got his school gear on her heard a knock on the door, he already knew who it was. "Ugh..." He grumbled as he opened his front door to see a brown haired girl in the school colors. She had brown eyes with dark brown hair, her hair was tied in a small pony tail hanging loosely from the side as she smiled. This girl's name was Miki Eri, ranked 33 of the academy.

"Oh, you're up. I was worried that you was going to skip class again today," she gave a soft smile as the teenage boy sighed.

"I don't know why you're worried, as long as I keep my ranking I don't have to worry too much about missing class...man what a pain,"

Miki frowned as she held her hands on her hips, "Hirai, don't be silly...regardless of your rank you should miss class. I mean really, you should think about getting something on campus," Miki pointed out as Hirai lazily grabbed his bag.

As he recalled Miki lived on campus, "man to wake up, get ready and come here before class even starts. How early did you get up?"

"Really early, so I don't want to hear any excuses on why you can't come, now come on!" Miki walked out of Hirai's small apartment as he grumbled before he followed after her.

This was the current life of Hirai Ryunosuke, at least until he found the person he was looking for. He looked around the city as he sighed, everything was a bit too clean for his taste. Almost sterile, it was unsettling especially compared to the place he came from as he glanced over at Miki who resumed talking.

"I heard you made rank 72, congratulations!" it was almost patronizing how Miki said those words as Hirai scoffed before shoving his hands into his pockets.

"Don't get the wrong idea, that only happened because the last rank 72 had to leave the school and Enfield randomly selected me to fill that spot..."

"Of course she did, everyone knows that you should probably be far higher than rank 72," Miki pointed out as Hirai frowned again.

"I have no interest in joining in any of the schools competitions or games, as far as I'm concerned it's a place where I get free food,"

Miki pouted at Hirai's words, but it was a conversation they had both been over multiple times. Still, if Hirai wasn't interested in the Festa why did he even bother going to the city.

They arrived at the large campus, the familiar fountain was in the center as they walked through the gates. It was almost time for class to start as Miki quickly snapped her fingers as a small hologram appeared in front of her. She checked the time and bit her lip. "Come on, we have to hurry up!"

Hirai scoffed, "we don't have the same classes remember, mine don't start for a while actually,"

Miki face tuned red before she pouted again, "ah what? You could have told me that before I got out of bed so early..."

"That's your fault not mine,"

Miki sighed before snapping her fingers, "oh, before I forget we are getting a couple new transfer students today..."

"Really?" Hirai crossed his arms, "didn't we just get a few two months ago...I mean I was apart of that group," honestly, Hirai had no idea how the process worked. Though he doubted it was natural for this to keep happening in such sort succession.

"Just make sure if you see anyone new here try not to freak them out or anything," Miki stated as Hirai rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll make sure to be as nice as I can be..."

Miki nodded as she hurried to her class leaving Hirai there to himself. There were still a couple of students walking around the fountain as Hirai sighed as he walked up to the small puddle of water and examined himself. His hair was a mess and there was still a couple of bags under his yellow eyes. It was clear that he wasn't getting enough sleep.

"Ugh, whatever," he sighed as he dragged his feet to a nearby bench before propping his feet on it. It was his bench at that moment as he slowly closed his eyes. It felt oddly nice for some reason, as if a nostalgic wave was passing through his body reminding him of something important, just as his body started to relax and he started to drift off to sleep he felt someone kick the bench.

"Hey wake up!" the voice was commanding as Hirai grumbled as he looked up to see someone around his age. Hirai barely was able to make out the details of the person, but it was clear that he was a student at the academy.

"Huh, what do you want? Can't you see I'm trying to take a nap?" Hirai whined as the man eye twitched.

"Yeah, that's the problem, you're hogging the entire bench. If you are tired why not try to sleep in your dorm or something, or under a tree..."

Hirai groaned as he looked at the guy, he had a point, though he couldn't help but feel he was trying to cause a problem for him specifically. "There are plenty of other bench's around here, why not pick one of those?"

The teen before him scoffed as he ran his hand through his blonde hair, "how about a quick duel for it then?"

That was probably the real reason, the bench was most likely just an excuse to pick a fight. Hirai looked around to see a crowd starting to gather, most likely the guy was just trying to pick a fight to show off right quick as Hirai sat up and tapped his wrist, he then opened up a small screen and scanned the man in front of him.

His name was Swen Floyd, he was ranked 50 in the school as Hirai scratched the back of his head, "huh, really doesn't someone who is ranked 50 have something better to do with their time?"

Swen eye twitched before laughing, "oh I see, you're scared aren't you?"

Hirai yawned as he jumped up from the bench and looked at him. "Listen, I have no interest in duels, but if it's a fight you want then I'll happily oblige," Hirai sighed as he kicked the dirt beneath him as Swen eye twitched.

"What kind of joke is this? You want to fight, but you don't want to duel... oh I see, you are afraid of losing your rank, it makes sense considering you just made rank 72..."

Hirai rolled his eyes, "as much fun as it would be to listen to you blab. I legit have a million things I would rather do, so are we going to start or what, unless the only way you could possible beat me is by breaking my badge,"

Swen bit his lip the moment Hirai said those words as he unhooked a small badge from his belt before pressing in a green object located on it. The moment he did a long orange whip erupted before a mechanical guard attached itself to the weapon. Hirai frowned as Swen crossed his arms.

"Well, aren't you going to use your Lux?"

"Don't need it..."

It was a blunt reply as Swen nearly screamed lifting his weapon, like a hammer the weapon came down as Hirai eyes narrowed. The weapon hit the earth beneath him as Swen eye twitched before he quickly looked around. His opponent had completely vanished.

"Hu-?" Before Swen could completely realize what had happened he felt his body spinning from a heavy impact before he landed on the ground, "wh-what," he was coughing as he looked around to see Hirai standing behind him.

"...This is lame, I'm done... you completely ruined my mood," Hirai was about to walk away as Swen nearly stomped his feet moving his weapon once again. The beam turned sharped preparing to stab Hirai in the back as Hirai snapped his fingers.

"Oh yeah..." right before the blade reached him Hirai vanished once again Swen was looking around before he noticed a large shadow looming over head.

"You can have the bench back..." with those words Hirai slammed the wooden bench against Swen's head causing his face to be planted firmly in the ground as Hirai sighed he kicked Swen for a moment before scratching the back of his head. The crowd was silent for a moment as Hirai looked at his school badge and snapped it in two.

"I don't need to be ranked 50, you can keep it..." he threw what remained of it onto the ground as he left the crowd with confused looks across their faces.

 _"Man I'm so cool, that line 'you can have the bench,' perfect..."_ Hirai laughed to himself as he walked away.

After all, he was happy with rank 72, he didn't need anything less or anything more. After all, any higher would be a bother as he tapped his wrist once again checking the time before scratching the back of his head. "Man I wonder if I should even bother," even when he was on campus it wasn't unusual for him to skip class as he looked at his bandaged arm.

"I wonder if anyone noticed...probably not," Hirai sighed, he knew that someone most likely recorded the fight. As long as it wasn't an official duel his rank wouldn't increase. It still was probably more work than it was worth fighting him, after all not only did he lose his nap but also some time.

He knew Miki was most likely still in class, so he took the time to finally start to walk around the campus. He knew if he entered the building he would have a higher chance of being found that he was skipping class. Not like it really mattered, "maybe I should join a club...meh, it will just end up as another thing I'd end up skipping,"

Thinking about it, even with his rank it was a miracle that he hadn't been kicked it, it wouldn't have mattered too much outside the fact that he wouldn't get free food. It would have been something that he would have been interested in knowing more about if he actually cared about the happenings at the school, Hirai shrugged before finding a comfy tree to as he started to lay under it.

He slowly started to day dream, as he bit his lip and held his arm, "damn it, two month's and no leads...I can't keep pretending like nothing is wrong," he almost let it slip. Why he came here in the first place, nothing before and nothing after mattered. He had to find and kill her no matter what.

Just as his body slowly stopped shacking a large explosion was heard as he opened one of his eyes. Large flames was coming from the side of the building where some of the dorms would be as Hirai scoffed at the fire, it was no doubt the Princess picking another fight as usual as Hirai sat up. He was weighing if it was even worth going to see what it was all about.

"Meh, whatever, I got time to kill before Miki comes out of class.

He dragged his body to the scene, students came started to crowd around the area. Of course they would, it was Julis after all, from the stories that he heard about her she had a bad temper and rather haughty. In fact, even Hirai himself almost got in a fight with her, but decided that messing with a Rank 5 would have drawn far too much attention to himself.

After he finally got around the circle her frowned for a moment, there Riessfeld was, holding her blade. However he didn't recognize the other person, it was to be expected considering there were thousands of students but something was nagging him in the back of his head. Was the kid the new transfer student? If so then it might be for the best to try to stop the fight before he embarrassed himself.

"...I'll let this play out for a bit," Hirai noticed the kid didn't even have a weapon before someone threw him one. It seemed everyone really was a little bit battle hungry as a bright white light connected the two badges. This was an official duel no doubt, no getting around it.

Hirai simply looked at the battle, it was impressive to say the least. He noticed the other students slowly recording what was happening as he cocked his brow. Honestly, Julis should have ended it in less than five seconds, yet here he was standing there for over a minute of time. Her opponent seemed to be far better than the average as Hirai opened a small screen and scanned the student.

"Amagiri Ayato...NO RANK, that's all," it was clear that he was a recent student considering there was no info on him as, yet despite not having a rank he was doing so well, then again the entire ranking system was somewhat busted.

It was almost silly to put so much faith in a system that some could easily ignore or game. Just the idea of putting a numerical value on a strength level was ridicules, not when it was clear so many students had inflated ranks or like he and Miki hid their true potential in fear of being pressured into Festas.

It was clear that Julis patience was running thin as she finally pointed her sword to the transfer student.

"Amaryllis!" she screamed as a large ball of flame slowly traveled towards Ayato, Hirai was shocked that he just ran towards it without a hint of fear. _  
_

"Is he stupid?"

Julis smiled, "explode!" at that very moment the orb burst into a large explosion as Ayato was completely covered in flames as Hirai eye narrowed. Normally this would have marked the end of the battle, but Hirai remained silent as Ayato cut through the flames. In the next movement the duel was about to be decided as an arrow of light traveled from the corner of his eye.

Both the transfer student and Julis barely made avoid it as Hirai eye twitched. That wasn't a skill either of them had before, it was clear that someone just made an attempt on their life.

"...I better get out of here before I get dragged into this,"

"Dragged into what I may ask?"

Hirai froze for a moment, he knew that voice as he slowly turned, it was Claudia. She had long, wavy blonde hair with a split bangs at the crown of her head, and purple eyes. She was wearing the school uniform as Hirai cursed his bad luck.

"Enfield..."

"You could be a little more polite when referring to me, though I am positive that you would ignore me either way," Claudia smiled.

"I was just heading back to class..."

"Don't worry, I was not planning on stopping you, but please Hirai, if you do pick a fight I would appreciate it if it was a proper duel, doing what you did completely throws the order of the ranking system and it makes it far more difficult for us to choose who to let into the Festas,"

"Damn it, that was like an hour ago, and you already seen it..." he should have known better considering how fast information traveled through the school. he can already read the headline. 'Rank 72 student easily defeats rank 50' well that was if the battle between Julis and the transfer student didn't steal the spotlight.

"Fine, I'll be more careful from now on, I just wanted to take a nap anyway..." Hirai started to walk away as he could feel Claudia's smile piercing his back.

"Man what an annoying day...plus that assassin, maybe I should look into it myself," it wasn't because he cared what happened to Julis. He honestly couldn't care less, but he was interested in what leads he may find. After all, no matter how you sliced it, someone trying to kill someone else is shady, plus he had time to kill.

"Who knows, maybe this will be the jackpot," Hirai slid out of the school's gates looking at his arm before sighing.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

 **A Fight to the Death**

Hirai sighed as pushed past the trees and bushes. Even if the assassin was another genestella they wouldn't have gotten far from the attempt location as Hirai scratched his head going deeper into the foliage.

"Man, what a pain, I thought it might be connected to that person, but maybe it's just another student that has a beef with Riessfeld..." it certainty wouldn't have been the first time she had made someone irritated at her, and as much fun as it was to dig into her personal life he didn't really care. "Man, I should probably head ba-"

At that moment Hirai's eye twitched, he felt something through the air as he grabbed his chest His eyes darted back into the forest, it was hard to tell but there was a large source of Prana nearby. He couldn't be exact with where it was or exactly how big it was.

The ability to sense Prana was one that Miki taught him when he first entered the school, while it wasn't as potent as a tracking ability that a Stega might know. Any genestella had the ability to learn it, but most find it pointless due to how the ranking system worked. Without hesitation Hirai ran deeper into the forest, after a few minutes he finally came up to a clearing.

He hid behind a tree, doing his best to keep his Prana low as he looked at the scene. There was a man standing in the center, the man was over six-feet tall as he stood in the center of the field. His body was nearly a mass of muscle, even larger than Lester. He had long greasy black hair and was wearing what seemed like bum outfit.

He was clearly too old to be a student and he didn't look like any teacher that Hirai ever saw.

"Could he be the assassin?" Hirai whispered to himself as he noticed the man slowly turn his head and stare right at him.

"...!" At that moment Hirai was nearly crushed, the sheer amount of force the man showed with just a glance instantly gave Hirai his answer. He wasn't the assassin that much was clear, if he was than Riessfeld would have been dead ten times over.

Hirai closed his eyes and shook his head before his eyes darted back to the clearing...however the man was gone as Hirai eyes twitched.

"D-damn it!" he quickly jumped up before dashing backwards, "I got careless, he could be anywhere," he kept jumping back, not letting his eyes move from the clearing before he hit what felt like a stone.

Hirai eye twitched as he slowly turned his head to see the man towering before him. the two's eyes met as the man scanned Hirai before laughing, "sorry you're a student huh?"

The man had a cheerful voice as Hirai relaxed his body slightly, still keeping himself guarded.

"Well, I don't see anything important here, sorry for trespassing, I'll be on my way," the man waved as he walked away. Hirai wasn't even able to say anything as he broth a sigh of relief. Regardless of why the man was there Hirai was just glad he was gone, nothing good would have came from having such a monster hanging around.

"...I better go find Miki,"

The day drew to a close as Hirai hanged around the gate of the school, despite it being evening the sun was oddly still bright in the sky as he noticed Miki finally emerging from class.

"It's about time you showed up, do you know how long I've been waiting?" Hirai grumbled as Miki pouted.

"Didn't anyone tell you that rushing a girl was rude, plus you could have gone home without me..."

"Yeah, but if I did that you would have been complaining that I skipped class again," which he did, but he couldn't have Miki find out about that.

Miki frowned as she looked directly into Hirai's eyes, her gaze unwavering before she grinned, "alright, since you're just going to eat junk if I let you go home why don't you come home with me and let me cook for you. I called Ogasx a few hours ago saying to prepare food for an extra person,"

Hirai had completely forgot that despite Miki sleeping on campus she had a small apartment off of campus as well. The more Hirai thought about it, the more he realized that Miki's family probably had a decent amount of wealth to afford both.

"Fine, not like I could refuse now that you said that..."

Miki smiled as Hirai walked with her through the city. Apparently the apartment she was staying at was near the school, which made sense as took out a small card and scanned it on a nearby key pad. The light turned from red to green as they walked into a small cramp apartment. It was small than Hirai's at the very least, which made sense considering she rarely used it for an extended period of time. It was about four rooms large, one being the main room, the next being a small bath room with a bedroom and kitchen being the final one.

"Ogasx I'm back!" Miki yelled into the building as something walked out of the kitchen. It had to lower its head considering how tall it was, and what appeared before them was a tall lanky being with a large crystal in its chest.

It was a woman by the shape of its body, but it was around seven-feet tall. Its skin had a metallic color to it with two piercing red eyes, her expression was stoic and unchanging as what appeared to be a replica of blue hair hung loosely on its head. This was both Miki's friend as well as her true Lux, Ogasx.

Of course, if anyone at school were to see Miki walking around with such a weapon it would turn heads, as a result Miki used a mass produced Lux at school while keeping Ogasx hidden away from the student body and the rest of the city.

"It still amazes me that you can keep her active throughout the entire day," Hirai scratched the back of his head, he understood that there were far more advanced puppets that were created that could also operate completely freely. In fact, Ogasx seemed to be a far older model since she required Prana to remain active, which also qualified her as a Lux.

"It's not that hard, it just requires half of my Prana reserves, it's more than enough to keep her going. Plus her combat abilities far outstrips any genestella, as well as her cooking abilities," Miki joked as she dragged Hirai into the kitchen to see a table full of food. It seemed to have been prepared by a master chief as Hirai glanced over to Ogasx who simply stood in the corner.

To say he wasn't interested in the Lux would have been a lie. He assumed that she was an Ogre Lux due to her sheer strength and odd activation method.

Hirai was about to ask Miki a question only to notice that she was completely stuffing her face like a little monster, it was rather unlady like for her as he sighed. No matter how many times he ate with her he never got use to seeing someone so delicate shoving food into their mouth. Miki just tilted her head as Hirai just shook his head.

"Um, so, did you get the chance to meet the transfer students?" Hirai said as Miki swallowed her food before shacking her head.

"No, but I read the news about how he picked a fight with Riessfeld, though that's not the only thing I heard about..." Miki's eyes narrowed as Hirai heart stopped for a moment as he scratched his cheek.

"Really Hirai, picking a fight with a ranked 50 student? Didn't you tell me you didn't want too much attention?"

"Well to be fair, he picked the fight with me first, I just wanted to sleep on the bench," there was a moment of silence as Miki sighed before she spoke again.

"Regardless, please be careful when going home, today at school we found out that genestella have started to go missing. So far none of the students have been targeted and only those unranked or that live in the city have vanished,"

"Wait...what! Why didn't no one tell me this?" Hirai's eye twitched as Miki pouted before biting her lip.

"You dummy, you skipped class again today didn't you!" Miki stated bluntly as Hirai flinched.

"Ah..."

Miki just sighed as the two finished their meal, Hirai got up to leave as Ogasx gave him a small bow as he and Miki left the kitchen. It was reaching sunset and Hirai wanted to be back before dark as he walked up to the front door. "Well thanks for the meal, I guess I'll be seeing you,"

Miki smiled, "please be careful, I don't want you to get hurt or anything..."

It was clear that Miki meant what she said as Hirai just waved before exiting the small apartment. He wondered if he should have walked her back to campus as he walked down the street.

It was twilight as Hirai sighed, there were a few vehicles riding up and down the road as he stopped for a moment before feeling a sharp pain in his bandaged arm. He winced as he looked at it, it was almost as if he was being yanked into a nearby dark alley. He had no idea why, but he could hear faint echos of a battle nearby as he took a deep breath.

"Damned arm...fine, I'll follow your lead," he grumbled as he ran down a dark alley leading to what appeared to be some abandoned buildings. As he recalled it was a small section of the town that had been set to be demolished but no one really got around to it. It was kind of a sore spot sticking out of such a beautiful city, as he slowly hid behind a pole.

The sounds of sword swings and clashes became louder as he peeked from his hiding spot as he saw two people doing battle.

One was a small girl with twin swords. Her hair was the color blue and tied in two pig-tails with yellow ribbons. Fro the uniform she was wearing it was clear that she was from Queenvail Girls' Academy. Before Hirai could scan her she was knocked away by her opponent her head bouncing off of one of the steel beams as she fell to the ground, her moans echoing through the air.

Her opponent was a slender man in a mask. He was wearing a white and black body suit with chains attached to it. Hirai bit his lip, he wasn't a student that much was certain as the man slowly walked towards the girl, despite her injuries she was still hold her weapons.

 _"This is a regular fight between genestella...right?"  
_

That is what he told himself as the girl weakly swung her weapon as the man easily dodged the blow and kicked her in the stomach. She slid across the dirt ground coughing up blood, at that moment Hirai's eye twitched. There was something off about the fight, this wasn't something for ranking or school, it was clearly a life or death battle.

Once again, the man walked up to the girl and planted his foot on her head. "Huh, this was a rank 37 student, how sad, though every little bit of prana helps the cause..." there was no emotion as Hirai finally snapped punching the pole he was standing behind snapping it in two. That got the attention of the man as Hirai shoved his hands into his pocket before walking out.

"Hey, that's in poor taste you know, there is no spectators, and it's clear who is the superior fighter is...so why don't you let her go?" Hirai looked at the girl who was sat up, she was still coughing as the man looked at Hirai, it was impossible to tell his reaction due to his mask as he tapped something on his chest before he brought up a familiar window.

"Huh, only rank 72, you are actually trash," the man took a step forward as Hirai lowered his stance.

"You shouldn't rely on such a thing to determine someone's strength..." Hirai's body started to twitch as a vein popped in the corner of his head, he started to take a large breath as the Prana around him slowly became visible.

Without warning Hirai rushed the man, the man could barely lift his arm as Hirai elbowed him directly in the chest. Before his opponent could recover he then kicked them in the next before following up with a headbutt. The blue haired girl simply looked in awe as Hirai continued to attack his opponent.

Still...

"Somethings not right, I'm attacking him like this, but he isn't showing any fatigue..." Hirai jumped back as the man slowly collapsed on the ground, Hirai's eyes narrowed as the man simply chuckled before he got up, dusting himself off as his head turned to Hirai. "Yes, you'll do fine, you aren't like the rest of the weaklings..."

"What ar-" before Hirai could ask anything he felt a chain wrap around his body yanking him through the buildings and into the air. With the flick of his wrist, the man slammed Hirai into the concrete below causing it to shatter.

Hirai winced as his back was to the ground as he grumbled, he felt something warm dripping from his face as he sat up breathing heavily. The girl simply remained silent as Hirai looked at his arm before sighing.

"Damn it...I got no choice...I'll just use a little of it," he smiled as he slowly unwrapped the bandages off of his arm. The only person who ever saw it was Miki, no one before and no one after.

After the bandages were fully unwrapped his opponent tilted his head, it was a white gauntlet like Lux...no it was more than that. It wasn't a gauntlet it was an arm, as if Hirai's human arm had been sliced off and replaced by it. The energy pulsating from it was a light yellow as the tips of the fingers slowly started to extended into claws.

Hirai was breathing heavily as he raised the arm as his opponent twitched.

With a single motion Hirai brought his had down as a large streak of light followed. In that moment the man was blown away as all the nearby broken and abandoned buildings were sliced in two.

A large amount of dirt and metal was kicked around as the blue haired girl covered her face before she felt someone pick her up and dash away. She completely opened her eyes to see Hirai running from the encounter, carrying her under his arm.

He ran for what seemed like an eternity getting as much space between him and the encounter as he took a deep breath as he looked at the girl and sighed. "Hey can you walk," he asked bluntly as the girl looked at him for a moment, multiple thoughts running through her head as she tried to move some of her limbs before shacking her head.

"No...sorry," she frowned as Hirai grumbled.

"Well, we're out in the open now...so he won't be chasing us any further," Hirai said as he slowly shifted the girl's position to his back as she blushed furiously.

"H-hey what are you doing?!"

"You said you can't walk right? Then I will just carry you home..." Hirai grumbled, "man what a pain... where is your house anyway,"

"I live on campus..."

"Oh, then I better get going," Hirai said as the blue haired girl started to pull his hair.

"What are you doing?! You can't do that, it's an all girls school. You can't just enter, not this late," she had a point, it didn't help that Hirai was still in his school uniform as he grumbled.

"Ugh, I'll find a spot for you or something," he slowly started to walk down the street still carrying the blue haired girl, "so...um what's your name anyway?" It was just a casual question as the girl held her breath for a moment.

"Kujizuka Yanon, what's yours?"

"Hirai, I won't tell you my last name since it's a pain to remember," it was more of an excuse than anything, but it seemed that Yanon was satisfied with that answer.

"So, Yanon, what was up with that guy anyway?"

"I don't know, he wanted to pick a fight with me even though he wasn't a student, before I knew it I realized he actually just wanted to kill me..."

It was eerie to say the least as Hirai finally arrived back at his apartment Yanon started to blush again, "t-this is your apartment?"

"Yeah...is there a problem?"

Yanon quickly shook her head, it seemed that Hirai was completely oblivious to the idea of letting a girl stay over night and for what reason as Hirai opened the door and cut on his light. He gently put Yanon down on the couch as touched his head, he really was bleeding rather badly before he sighed.

"Damn it..." he walked towards a nearby drawer before pulling out some bandages and quickly wrapping his head up. It was less to cover the wound and more so he wouldn't be getting blood everywhere. He then looked over to Yanon, who outside of a few bruises and cuts wasn't bleeding, but he knew there was probably a chance that she had a few broken bones.

"Sorry, I can't really treat you here, but I'll take you back to school tomorrow morning and see if they have something to help you..." he recalled that it was his free day so it would be the perfect time to do something like that.

Yanon looked at him for a moment before smiling, "thank you...I promise I'll repay you,"

"Don't worry about, in fact what you did today might have helped me a lot actually,"

"What do you mean?" Yanon tilted her head as Hirai laughed.

"Nothing, man don't you know it's rude to ask so many questions to the person who saved you?"

"Fine then," Yanon pouted slightly, "I'll just put in a good word for you at my school or something,"

Hirai sighed, he wasn't even going to attempt to stop her as he dragged himself into his room shutting the door behind him. He then looked at his Lux, the spot where the crystal should have been was a bloodshot eye twitching unnaturally. He grumbled once again before wrapping it up with more bandages and flexing it ever so slightly.

He doubted that would have been the last time he would have seen the white dressed man, and there was no doubt about one thing. "That guy knows something about 'her'..."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Hirai rubbed his eyes as he dragged his body out of bed. He couldn't help but tug on the bandage he wrapped around his wound, it was most likely already healed as he moved to the main room where he expected Yanon to be sleeping...at least that is what he was expecting.

He noticed the couch completely bare with only a letter on the table. Hirai sighed before picking up the small note and reading it.

 _"Ah, thank you for yesterday, I wanted to wait until you woke up to leave, but you were still asleep and I had class. Don't worry though, I will make it a point to talk about you to my school and make sure you are rewarded,"_

 _Sincerely Kujizuka Yanon._

Hirai grumbled, he wished he could have told her not to tell anyone about what happened, but the chance was long gone. His eyes wandered to a nearby clock before noticing just how late it was,"

"11:30!" Hirai eye twitched, he didn't have any classes but he didn't want to sleep his day away either. There was plenty to do around the city, and if he missed his chance he would waste his day. Though, it wasn't like he actually went to class regularly either.

He quickly got dressed as he heard a knock on his apartment door, he opened it to see a familiar face standing in the doorway.

"Ah Miki, don't you have classes today?" that was the first thing that came out of Hirai's mouth as Miki crossed her arms.

"Of course I do, but I was specifically sent here to pick you up,"

"Huh?" he couldn't help but tilt his head ever so slightly. He knew for a fact that he didn't have class that day, mostly because it was the only day where he didn't need to go out of his way hoping he didn't encounter anyone else from his school.

"Please don't ask me, Claudia insisted that you at least swing by her office today,"

Hirai eye twitched, he knew it had something to do with Enfield, anything that was related to the school. Thus putting him in a bad spot, despite really wanting to refuse he knew it would just cause him more trouble the next time he went to class.

"Bah, fine, but I am not putting on my uniform,"

With that Hirai finished getting dressed and the two walked out of the door and towards the school it didn't take long for the duo to finally arrive back on campus. Hirai groaned, while the building itself looked nice there was a certain level of dread that came with meeting Enfield at any time.

They walked up to her office to see the blonde girl sitting in her chair. If one didn't know any better they may have mistaken her for the principal of the school.

"Isn't this weird, calling me in during my day off..." Hirai sighed as the blonde frowned, most likely due to Hirai's insistence on calling her by her last name.

"I do suppose, however it is even stranger that I would get a letter from Queenvail that you saved one of their students..."

"Oh," Hirai was shocked how quickly news traveled. It seemed that Yanon wasted no time in explaining the situation to her school, Hirai couldn't help but groan at the entire situation. Despite showing off every once in awhile, he disliked attention. "I suppose you can't just send a letter back and be done with it,"

Enfield simply sighed before smiling again, "normally that is something I would do, but the student council president insisted that come to the school in person. Of course it won't be any time soon, however I assume next week is fine,"

"Ugh, whatever, just schedule it during a school day, I don't want to waste my time off on that useless stuff," Hirai replied as Enfield looked at him before glancing back to Miki.

"This may seem like an odd request, but as upperclassmen I would like you to keep an eye on a few of the students here,"

Hirai recalled Enfield asking him something similar the other day, he also encountered the mysterious man because of it. "Eh, what a pain in the ass, but it's not like I can say no, who's the student we are babysitting,"

"I want you to keep an eye on Julis Riessfeld,"

"Hell no," Hirai's response was blunt, "I don't mind it being anyone else, but it can't be Riessfeld,"

"Oh...I am honestly shocked by such a curt reply," Enfield glanced over to Miki most likely wanting an explanation.

"Ah, well, Hirai and Julis do not get along at all. As I recall their last exchange ended with Julis calling Hirai a worthless dog and him calling her princess pig," Miki recalled the moment, it would have been more humorous if it didn't end in a shouting match.

"If that's the case then I can't see anyone better for the job," Enfield placed her hands together as Hirai's eye twitched. It was that was going to be reached no matter what they said, so it was better to just role with it.

"Fine...I guess it's fine if Miki is here, where is the brat anyway?" Hirai frowned as Enfield tapped her lip.

"As I recall she is giving another student a tour of the school, if you look around you should find them," it was vague but good enough for the two of them.

The two exited the room before wandering around the school, the most popular spot was around the fountain, so that is where they went first.

Like usual there were plenty of students simply wandering around getting to their next class, Hirai was tempted to sneak off planning on lying to Enfield that they couldn't find her.

"Ah, I think she is over there!" Miki pointed out as Hirai winced, just like that his hopes were dashed.

Still they had to approach her, of course they weren't going to tell her that they were sent by Enfield, that just would have made her more uncooperative. At the moment it would be best if they just acted like they normally did.

Hirai placed his hands in his pockets as Miki straightened her hair. The two slowly made their way to the group of three that were standing there, one of them was no doubt Riessfeld, and the other one was the student that fought her the other day. However there was a third person standing there, a short blue-haired girl.

"How do you do my underclassmen," Miki smiled waving to Riessfeld as the three of them stared at the duo.

Riessfeld eyes shifted from Miki quickly to Hirai. The two of them stared at one another, as if they were having a showdown. One of them would have to make the first move, after all the next words that came out of their mouth would be a insult.

"Don't stare at me, if you do I'll vomit, Miki was the one that spoke to you so look at her, unless that brain of yours is filled with nothing but hair too," it took less than ten seconds for Hirai to spout an insult, as Julis eye twitched. However matching an elegance of a princess she quickly fired back.

"Of course someone like you would start off with saying something like that, I was perfectly fine ignoring you, but it seems that the quality of upperclassmen have fell quit a bit,"

Hirai grumbled about to say something else as Miki quickly cleared her throat getting everyone's attention.

"Anyway, my name is Miki Eri and this is Hirai Ryunosuke, we are upperclassmen and we just wanted to introduce ourselves," Miki smiled looking at the transfer student the blue haired girl.

"Y-yes, and my name is Amagiri Ayato, and this..."

"Sasamiya Saya..." Hirai took note of the girl's drowsy expression.

Hirai scanned the two then looked back to Julis before shaking his head, "this is no good. You two seem nice enough, how in the world did you get involved with Jewelis?"

Julis eye twitched at the clear mispronunciation of her name, however she tried her best simply to ignore him.

"Why don't you boys get us something to drink," Miki stated, most likely just so she could separate Julis and Hirai from one another.

"Yeah that sounds like a good idea," Ayato smiled for a moment, it seemed that he was getting Miki's hint as Hirai just shrugged, not wanting to argue with it.

The two boys walked off to the nearby vending machine that was located on campus leaving the girls to do their business.

Hirai couldn't help but stare at Ayato, he didn't seem too special, but there was something about the underclassmen that interested him.

"Ayato right? If you don't mind me asking, why did you come to a place like this," Hirai's eyes narrowed, he seemed like a nice enough person. Which made his decision to come to the city all the more jarring.

Ayato just scratched his cheek, "well, to be fair I am not too interesting in entering the festas, but I wanted to find myself,"

Hirai remained silent before sighing, "there are plenty of ways to do that without coming to a place like this. However, I won't question you any further,"

Ayato nodded as they reached the vending machine, "Ayato seemingly picked the drinks at random, which was fine. It was just an excuse for Miki to talk to the other two girls anyway.

Just as Ayato picked up the drinks a large explosion was heard from the courtyard, Hirai grumbled before he and Ayato ran to the direction of the nose. When they arrived the water fountain was completely destroyed, Saya and Julis were soaked with Miki having a rather irritated look on her face.

"These underclassmen..." Miki said something under her breath as Hirai sighed.

"What happened here anyway?" Hirai noticed that a bit of Julis and Saya's clothing was undone but brought no attention to it. Mostly because it would have been far funnier when they realized it themselves.

"The assassins that was after Julis attacked her," Miki said her eyes quickly scanning the surroundings, "come on let's go Hirai," Miki jumped over the bench as Hirai grumbled.

The two left their three underclassmen to their business as the chased after the culprits.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The Horrible Bird House

Part 1

"Damn it...they actually managed to get away..." Hirai grumbled as he and Miki stared at the sea of students that were slowly heading towards the courtyard. Thinking about it the duo had completely failed at protecting Riessfeld and they got the courtyard to damaged.

"Well, at the very least no one was hurt..." Miki frowned. "We should report back to Claudia now, she probably wants an explanation of what happened.

Hirai stared at Miki before looking at the crowed. He snickered slightly before stretching. "Nah, I'll be going now..you can handle all that boring stuff."

"W-what? Hold on, you're leaving this up to me?" Miki voice raised as Hirai shrugged.

"I'll probably just say something stupid, plus I doubt the assassins are even still on campus. I can look for them out in the city while you do whatever you are going to do."

They both know it was an excuse for him to leave. If he stayed then Enfield would have tried to get him to do something else and he didn't want to waste his entire day just doing her bidding.

"Fine...but you owe me for this!" Miki placed her hands on her hips as Hirai laughed. He then walked out of the front gate of the school making sure that no one was watching him.

After he got out of the school grounds he took a deep breath. There was still plenty of time to kill and he had no idea what to do.

It wasn't like he could hang out with anyone else considering most of them still had classes for the next few hours. Not only that but nothing fun really ever happened until night. There wasn't many age restrictions in the city.

This of course meant that even students were able to gamble. Of course it wasn't like the owners of those kind of places didn't frown on the whole thing.

"I guess I'll go home for the time being..."

As he made his way home his eyes darted around the street trying to notice anything odd or strange that around town. Nothing was too out of the ordinary, but then again it was still in the middle of the day.

The last time something weird or dangerous was happening it was during sunset. He probably would have to wait until then to notice anything too strange.

"Man, what a pain in the ass..." He took another deep breath as he climbed the stairs and opened the door. The moment he entered his apartment he felt a sudden sense of dread. Nothing was destroyed or even out of place...but something wasn't right.

He quickly checked the door again trying to see if anything was wrong. It wasn't like anyone could really pick the lock. Most of the doors in the city needed card keys of some sort to enter. Yet he couldn't shake the feeling that someone had been there.

He then checked each and every window. A few times Hirai would leave the windows unlocked, even if it was by mistake. However he was living on the second floor of the apartment building, the only people who would be able to reach that far was another Genestellar.

He continued to look around trying to find anything else only to notice another note on one of the tables. This time it was in a black envelope as he grumbled. He knew for a fact that wasn't there before he left.

Hirai quickly grabbed it and opened it up.

 _Hi~ I heard you are rank 72, congrats...it seems that you have a little problem though. If you want to know more about 'her' then come to the address at the bottom of this note once it gets dark..._

The only thing on the bottom of the note was a random address and nothing else. Hirai frowned as he crumbled up the paper placing it in his pocket.

At the very least Hirai had something to do that night.

* * *

It was unacceptable, at least that is what was going through Julis head as she sat on her bed taking a deep breath. They insisted of having the school guards follow her around something that she couldn't agree too.

She would take out the so called assassins all by herself. She got this far with her own power and she wasn't about to let that slip away.

As she prepared to change into her night gown she noticed something...off about her room. As if someone else had been in it.

She grumbled as she looked around before finally noticing the note on her table.

Someone had been in her room. Of course they were long gone and there wasn't any point to calling out to them.

She slowly opened her note as she looked at the piece of paper.

 _Heard you were having assassin problems. If you really want to find out who is attacking you come to the address at the bottom of the note!_

No name was listed, but there was an address. Julis simply sighed folding her paper up and putting it in her back pocket.

It was clearly a trap, but she was honestly interested. She was confident enough that she would be able to beat anyone alone if need be. She was rank 5 in the school, she wouldn't be defeated so easily.

Still the idea of someone being in her room was uncomfortable to say the least. However nothing was going to be solved if she simply stayed in her room in fear.

"This place isn't too far from the school..."

So she made the decision, she would go to the address soon.

After a few hours of preparing Julis left her dorm room trying her best not to catch any attention. While there wasn't a curfew for being out in the town, there was one for being out on campus. Normally she wouldn't be so brazen with breaking the rules, but she felt justified with her decision.

At the very least she wasn't wearing her school uniform. She wasn't about to bring her problems onto the school and drag it through the mud by being out all night.

After a few minutes she made it to the address...at least that is what Julis assumed it was. There was only a single building in the area. A house, a normal house that looked like it belonged to a family.

Julis eyes widened for a moment as she looked around. The sun had set and there was no one around. Julis peeked through the window looking for anything odd. However it looked like a normal living room with a lamp and a television.

It seemed weirdly outdated however. The normal screens that were the length of walls weren't there at all. It seemed like a couple of decades behind the times in that sense.

"Is this some kind of prank?" Now she was feeling insulted. She didn't wan to break into a family home just because of some note.

She slowly walked up to the door and knocked. There was no response as she forced the door open. Her stomach twisted the moment she took a step into the building.

It was...normal...too normal, like no one was actually living there. Not only that, but she noticed something strange. There were television screens hanging around the rooms, not just one or two, just three hanging around the room almost examining it from different angles.

"What th-"

Before Julis could comprehend her situation she heard the door slam behind her, metal morphed around the exit sealing it off.

"Holy crap! I can't believe you fell for it!" A voice rang out as Julis pulled out Aspera Spina.

"Show yourself!" Julis gave a demand as a chuckle echoed through the room. One of the screens turned on as a woman appeared on screen.

She looked like she was in her mid twenties with dark-blue hair. From what Julis could see she was wearing a white summer dress. Her eyes had a sickly look in them, as if she was tired ot sick.

"Welcome Julis Riessfeld! I did not expect you to actually come by, honestly I am a little disappointed that my other target didn't show up first."

Julis grumbled, she was done talking, she pointed her blade to the door lifting her free hand a ball of fire appeared in front of her as she fired it towards the door. It surely had enough force to break it down...at least that is what she assumed.

After a large explosion the door was completely unscratched as the princess eye twitched.

"Oh my, young Genestellar are always so short tempered. As if their anger is capable of changing anything."

"Who are you!" Julis made another demand not noticing the table behind her shaking ever so slightly.

"Oh no one important, unlike a princess like you...thinking about it you can get a pretty hefty prices from your family. Maybe I'll use you for that~" the woman laughed again as Julis blood started to boil.

Just then one of the tables flipped launching itself towards Julis. With a single motion Julis cut the table in half as more objects in the room started to shake.

It wasn't natural. It clearly had to be the work of a Genestellar, but from where.

"...Huh?" Before Julis could think through she felt something tugging on her legs, in a single motion she was lifted off the floor and slammed onto the ground.

At that moment the floor started to pin her limbs to the ground as the woman laughed once again.

"Your weapon is only really useful in festas huh? All for fame and fortune, but when you are in a life or death situation such rules are completely useless!"

Julis just glared at the screen as the woman sighed.

"You see, this is my Lux! This is my BIRD HOUSE!" The woman howled again.

"This entire building...is your lux?"

"Yes, and every object in this building that wasn't brought from the outside I can control freely. The moment you entered the Bird House was the moment you lost."

"So...you are with the assassins?" Julis frowned as the woman just shook her head.

"Well, no, technically someone paid me to get rid of you sure. However you weren't my primary target for the night."

Julis remained silent, if the entire building really was a Lux then the user had to be close by...no more than that. The user had to be in direct contact with the lux, meaning that the woman was still probably in the building.

"Speaking of my real target..." The woman turned one of her screens to the window as Julis turned her head as well. She couldn't see much detail, however there was someone she recognized standing right outside of the home.

"W-what is that dog doing here!" Julis nearly screamed as she looked at Hirai just standing in front of the building.

"Oh~ you know him? A fellow classmate perhaps?" The woman snickered as the metal that was blocking the door slowly sunk back down into the floor as the door started to crack open. More wires started to bind themselves to Julis. The metal that pinned her too the floor was slowly letting up as she was yanked to a position right in front of the door.

What was worse was the position she was in. If someone were to look at her they wouldn't be able to tell she was in trouble whatsoever, it just seemed that she was just sitting on the floor despite not being able to move.

"Huh?" On the outside of the building was Hirai looking around as he noticed the door slowly crack open. Right inside of the other side of the door was Julis, as the their eyes met for a moment.

"Princess pig? What the hell are you doing here?"

Julis twitched at the insult, right before she was about to shout back she heard someone whisper in her ear.

"Hey~ Like I said you aren't the main target, if you lure that boy in here I'll just let you go. You two don't care for one another right? So there is no need to warn him or anything like that."

Julis held her breath for a moment. The woman was right, she really did hate Hirai Ryunosuke, he was rude, inconsiderate and never took anything seriously. They never got along, and they probably never will...at the same time.

"So you are saying if I call him over here...you will let me go?"

"Yep~" the woman chirped as Julis nodded.

"...Do not make fun of me..." That was Julis response.

"W-what?"

"I may hate Hirai, but I hate people who try to humiliate me more...!"

With that a princess too a deep breath and called out to her fellow classmate.

"Hey dog! Get out of here right now! It's a trap, go find anyone else to help or run away...I don't care which!"

From the corner of her eye Julis could tell that the woman eyes were twitching. That was a good thing, after all that was the response she wanted.

"D-damn you..." the woman voice was strained.

Hirai looked at Julis for a moment, she was waiting for him to turn to run or reply with a quip. However instead he took a few steps forwards before entering the building himself.

"W-what are you doing!" Julis shouted as Hirai simply scoffed.

"Just because a loser like you was defeated doesn't mean the same thing will happen to e...now where is the asshole who did this to you so I can beat their ass!"

The woman grinned as Julis groaned, perhaps the woman has a point in saying that young Genestellar were idiotic.

"What kind of fool are you? You could have escaped but you've sealed your own fate now!"

At that moment the door leaving the building slammed shut locking the two of them into the building once again.

"What int he world?" Hirai turned around not noticing the wires that were coming after him.

"You idiot!" Julis managed to move one of her arms opening the palm of her hand. She was preparing another Amaryllis, but instead of aiming at the building she was aiming at Hirai.

Without warning she fired the large fireball towards Hirai blowing him away and knocking him with enough force to launch him into the other room while burning all the wires around him.

"Hurry up and find the Genestellar controlling this building! She has to be in the building if she is controlling it like thi-" before Julis could finish her statement wires were wrapped around her mouth.

"I think you have said enough!" The woman snapped as she dragged Julis away.

"H-hey, Riessfeld!" Hirai quickly recovered from the flaming blow as he tried to run back into the room where Julis was located, but a giant metal wall blocked his path.

He grumbled..."damn, I never thought I would see the day that Riessfeld would save my life."

Hirai knew he didn't have a lot of time before the house started to attack him again as he looked around the rooms. He had to find the lux user and take them out before. "Just wait for me...Julis!"

 **Author note.**

 **This was a fun chapter to write. Despite it kind of being on the short side and me splitting it up.**

 **I always had an interest in playing with the lexs and what they did. Also the idea that adult Genestellar would tailor their abilities and lexs less around Festas and more around their professions.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

 **The Terrible Bird House. Part 2**

Hirai looked around the room. It seemed that he somehow managed to land in the kitchen. He didn't entirely know the situation, but for some reason there were three television screens in the room.

He also noted how there was an unusual amount of metal. While it wasn't too uncommon to have a bit of metal furniture a lot of it seemed to have been connected to the flow itself. Making it completely useless.

"Oy, shitty lady. Tell me where you are so I can beat the shit out of you..."

He spoke out without thinking about it too hard as one of the screens flickered on.

"That's a pretty good idea...I am located between, somewhere and none of your damn business. Now relax and let me capture you..."

The television next to him shut off as certain objects in the room started to move and shift.

"...!" Without even thinking about it Hirai dodged to the side as a large spear impaled itself into a nearby wall. It seemed a chunk of the wall had turned itself into a scrap weapon.

The door he just came from was sealed, so was the one in front of him. He needed to make out and find the person pulling the strings.

At that moment more objects started to fling themselves towards him as Hirai eyes narrowed. Not only that but the floor itself started to shift.

"I really hate doing this, but..." Hirai unwrapped his arm, the eye like jewel flashed if only for a moment. However his arm wasn't for the walls or the objects, but rather...

"Ha!" With a quick swipe claw like blades cut through the three monitors in the room as Hirai continued to avoid the attacks.

However once he did he noticed a noticeable change in how the objects were targeting him. They lost all precision and was just flinging themselves randomly in any and all direction. Which meant...

"She needs those monitors." Hirai spoke to himself, while his enemy may have been able to detect what room he was in, she didn't know his exact location without them.

"Now then..." Hirai looked at the walls, when it came to brute strength he knew he was stronger than the princess. It wouldn't be too hard to bust down the door and escape...but.

"I can't really leave her behind can I..." He groaned, especially not after she put her life on the line. Even if it was more to save herself than any other reason.

Hirai then cracked his knuckles. "I guess it's only natural for me to move forward." He was about to break the wall in front of him as he felt the room suddenly shift. Hirai quickly looked around before turning his attention to the ceiling.

Spikes, the ceiling had been replaced with spikes, not only that but it seemed to have been slowly moving towards him.

He cursed himself, as he quickly ran towards the wall reeling back his fist. With a single motion he punched through it entering the next hallway.

Hirai didn't even bother looking around as he quickly picked a random room diving inside.

"If I'm right it should take her a few moments to realize what room I'm in..." Hirai frowned checking the room he was in. It seemed to have been a bathroom, once again there was a monitor in the corner of the room, but it didn't appear to be active.

He couldn't stay for long. She was still probably scanning the hallway for him at the same time however,

"I might be over thinking this..." He was a Genestellar, the easiest solution was just to go from room to room checking each one as he went along.

So with a deep breath he tapped his foot on the floor before opening the door. In an instant he nearly vanished checking another room. His steps could probably not be seen by the naked eye.

"H-hey stop moving so fast you brat!" He could hear the woman growl from on of the screens, but Hirai wasn't going to stop to check which one.

When it was clear that none of the rooms in that hall had his target he raced down the hall noticing to sets of stairs one leading upward and one leading down. One probably lead to the basement while the other leading to the second floor.

At least that is what Hirai assumed as he got closer to the set of stairs. It had to be one or the other, and honestly she could have been in either location.

"I-I won't let you!" He could hear the woman call out to him as the stairs leading up to the second floor folded into themselves as Hirai smiled. If he didn't know where she was before he did now.

He reached the spot where the stairs used to be before gripping his hand. With a single motion punched a hole through the ceiling sending him straight to the second floor.

Hirai landed, his eyes quickly darting around. There was no nearby monitors, but he still felt uneasy. There were less objects in the hallway, but there was still the looming threat of the enemy.

After all, she had complete control over the building. If she got too frustrated...

"Huh?" Hirai's eyes widened as he felt the footing starting to warp and stretch. He was confused if only for a moment before the floor finally started to collapse underneath of him.

It was clear, if she couldn't stop him from reaching the room the woman would simply completely cut off all possible ways that he could reach her.

Hirai quickly noted that he was close to one of the rooms as he tucked in his shoulders. Almost like a freight-train he rammed his body into one of the doors leading to a random room.

He easily broke through the metal landing inside as the hall collapsed behind him. Hirai slowly crept towards the edge of the hall before looking down. He could see the first floor as well as the rubble that was caused by the destruction.

"Geez, she really wants to get rid of me huh?" Hirai frowned. He had always heard that older Genestella were actually quite proficient with their abilities and Lux's.

It made sense, not everyone was interested in competing in Festas. It was natural for those who wanted to use their abilities for their profession would slowly tune them into whatever they needed.

Creating a giant bird cage to capture targets was rather smart. Though Hirai doubted the house he was in was the only form the Lux could take. It was most likely created just for him and Julis.

"Now, then, I think I should be able to jump across and cling to a nearby wall." Hirai pulled down his sleeve revealing his own lux as he motioned himself to jump.

Right before he did he heard something click behind him. He couldn't help but turn around to notice a thick black smog slowly the room.

"Is this some kind of po-" Hirai body flinched the moment he broth in the mist. He nearly collapsed on the floor, not in pain, but rather...

"W-what the hell? It felt like someone has drained all the energy from my body." Hirai quickly held his breath as he heard the cackle of the woman.

"This is...my Lux's true ability. It saps all mana from everyone inside giving it to me, huhuhuh! I don't know where you are, but it won't matter soon!" The woman laughed again as Hirai eye twitched.

He was already weakened from breathing in the air the first time. He wouldn't be able to do it a second time. He would have to find the genestella before he took his next breath.

His eyes narrowed as he lowered his stance. He rocketed from the door way to the one directly across from him, breaking right through the door.

The room was empty once again. Hirai didn't even bother to take another glance as he traveled towards the room diagonal from the one he was in crashing right through the metal door.

Empty.

"D-damn it, I can't hold my breath forever!" Even Genestalla needed air, and every time he knocked down another door he felt himself losing a bit of it.

It wouldn't have been so bad if he had an actual hallway to walk through, but between leaping from room to room while breaking down the door at the same time he was running out of time.

The more doors he broke the more smog was poured into the area. It seemed he was getting closer and closer.

"I-I'm at my limit..." Hirai winced as he broke down the final door in the hallway.

"Eeek!" A small scream as he noticed a woman laying in bed next to a window. It seemed that he finally had found his target.

The woman was...rather sickly looking, she was pale with long black hair. She looked like she was wearing a long white dress, her blue eyes shacking in fear.

"Y-you actually managed to make it this far." The woman eye twitched as Hirai eyes narrowed.

There was a lot of questions he wanted to ask, but he knew he couldn't open his mouth as long as the fog was around.

"You...actually held your breath for that long? What a freak!" The woman grumbled as Hirai took another step. "H-hey get back, don't come any closer!" The woman had tears in her eyes as Hirai took another step.

It was over, it seemed that she was the type of Genestalla that let her lux do all the heavy lifting for her.

As Hirai got closer he noticed something odd, the fear in the woman's eyes changed to something completely different.

"You...complete moron~" The woman cackled as Hirai felt something sharp hit the side of his body.

"Gah!" He winced as he noticed a leg of a chair jamming itself into the side of his body. The damage from the attack wasn't the problem, rather the shock from it caused him to take a breath.

The moment he did the rest of the energy from his body was drained as he collapsed onto the floor the woman continuing to laugh.

"You idiot! You let your guard down right at the end. When someone is acting all scared it's only natural for you to get closer. Now I'm finally going to get paid!"

The woman hummed to herself as she looked out of the window making sure no one else was around.

"If you listened to that princess then you probably wouldn't be in this situation!" The woman laughed again before turning her head back towards Hirai...only to notice that he was no longer on the floor.

"Eeh?" She made an odd sound, as she noticed the young Genestalla standing above her, giving what could only be described as hate.

Both Hirai and the woman remained silent as the two looked at one another. Hirai was mere inches away from her, even if he wasn't she was in bed. There would be no way she would be able to get up in time.

So she didn't she just stared as Hirai returned the luck, she glanced at her fingers. A single movement would be all that it takes to send something else after him, or sink the entire bed into the floor below.

She slowly moved her finger, however the moment she did she felt a harsh blow against her foot breaking it easily.

"Gah!" She cried as she noticed Hirai's fist imbedded into her ankle.

Not only that, but with a single blow the fog that was filling the building completely vanished.

Hirai took a deep breath before smiling. "Ah, so you need completely concentration to be able to keep that smog running...good to know."

"H-how did you get back up?! Your body should have been completely drained!"

The moment the woman said that Hirai pointed to his arm. "This thing is pretty annoying at times, but it's kind of helpful too. It restored enough of my mana to move...now."

"W-wait, don't you want to know who sent me?" The woman smiled as Hirai just shrugged.

"Not really, I actually already have a pretty good idea. Give my sister my regards by the way." Hirai reeled back his fist as the woman lifted both of her hands.

"S-stop, you can't. I'm a bed ridden woman right? If you lay your hands on someone who can barely move you won't be able to sleep at night." The woman pointed out as Hirai shoved his hands in his pockets.

"I..guess you're right."

"Y-yeah, and I already released the girl from earlier so you can just leave." The woman smiled as she noticed Hirai shifting his legs. No doubt he was about to leave her to her business...that was until she felt something like a weight hit her in her stomach.

She coughed as she noticed Hirai's food lodged into her body.

"You're right, if I used my hands I wouldn't be able to sleep at night, but...if I use my feet then there is nothing wrong with it."

He didn't even give the woman a chance to respond as he quickly stopped at her, breaking the bed as well as the floor beneath sending his foe to the floor below.

Hirai looked down at the woman, her eyes were completely white as she laid in a pile of rubble. She was still alive, but it was clear that she wouldn't be able to move for a couple of months.

"Ah man! I feel completely refreshed now!" Hirai laughed as he was tempted to jump out of the window and be on his way. Though he couldn't help but think he was forgetting something.

"Oh, I should probably find princess pig."

Hirai walked out of the room jumping down the broken hallway towards the bottom floor. It didn't take long for him to reach the basement as he noticed one last iron door in his way.

"Alright right, the princess should b-" Hirai reeled back his fist preparing to break down the door. However before he could get the chance he felt some heat coming from the other side. In an instant the door was blown back along with Hirai, Julis walking through the walkway.

"To be humiliated like that...I won't forgive anyone who insults the Riessfeld name." Julis eyes quickly darted around as she noticed Hirai underneath the metal door she had just destroyed.

"Geez, talking all that shit and the fight is already over." Hirai got up before grumbling. "Also, watch where you do that sort of thing. Princess' should be more refined, even a pig princess."

Hirai pointed out as Julis eye twitched. As much as she wanted to fire an insult back she was more curious about something else.

"What happened to the Genestella that attacked us?"

"Oh I took care of her." Hirai sighed as he scanned Julis, despite everything she seemed relatively unharmed. "Well, if you are like this then I'm going back home. I already wasted enough time on this whole thing."

Hirai turned around to leave as Julis took a step forward.

"Wait!"

Hirai slowly turned his head, an irritated frown creeping onto his face. "Eh? What are you so scared you need someone to walk you home?"

"Of course not, and even if I was I wouldn't ask a dog like you!" Julis stated before continuing. "Not only that, but if you are expecting me to thank you please remove that thought from your head. If you just listened to me earlier then we wouldn't have been put into this situation."

Hirai grumbled as he turned around once again. "Man, here I thought you were going to say something interesting. Though I should have known better coming from a barn animal."

"You are insufferable you know that? Forget it! I'll check myself!" Julis snapped as Hirai shrugged before finally walking away.

Julis eyes narrowed as he turned the corner towards the main room of the building walking out of the house.

"How did a low rank like him beat such a dangerous Genestella...he probably simply got lucky."

Despite that, as much as she hated to admit it. She probably did owe Hirai. If he hadn't showed up at all then she may have been sent to who knows where. Of course, as long as he was acting like an idiot 'thank you' would never leave her mouth.

 **Author note**

 **Sorry this took so long, I have been doing a bunch of other things and projects.**


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